Conveying systems with a sorting function are known in practice for a multiplicity of fields of use. By way of example, a sorting function can be provided in order to provide single items at one of a plurality of issuing points. There, they can be supplied to a conveyor belt or brought into a roll container. Here, single items can be e.g. packages, such as parcels or letters, but also other items such as unpackaged wares or intermediate products.
In logistics, packages can be transported as bulk cargo in vehicles and stored as bulk cargo in system parts of a conveying system. Modern methods of unloading technology also enable efficient unloading of interchange containers with packages in such a way that packages can be supplied to the conveying technology as bulk cargo. Here, bulk cargo in logistics can be subdivided into three classes: 3D bulk, 2D bulk and 1D bulk. In 3D bulk, packages lie over one another, under one another, next to one another, in front of one another and behind one another in an unordered sequence. In 2D bulk, packages lie next to one another, in front of one another and behind one another in an unordered sequence, but not over one another or under one another. In 1D bulk, packages lie behind one another in an unordered sequence, but not next to one another, under one another or over one another. Packages lie behind one another precisely if no package covers another from a lateral observation point (at right angles to the conveying direction). Here, the distance between the packages plays no role. Moreover, packages are considered to be singulated if they are arranged in 1D bulk with an interstice greater than zero. In many conveying systems, transportation is initially carried out as a 3D bulk or, predominantly, as 2D bulk. However, then the transport of packages is carried out as single item flow, i.e. as 1D bulk, in most regions of conveying systems because it is only in this manner that the individual package can be supplied to its final point in the system.